Del Toro Says "Justice League Dark" Part of Shared DC Movie Universe

In an interview from Festival di Roma 2013 published Monday by Italian film site Cinefilos, director Guillermo del Toro said the "Justice League Dark" movie is still alive, and that it will connect to Warner Bros. existing live-action plans for its DC Comics properties -- mentioning both movies and TV, as noticed by io9.

"We are still on it," del Toro said. "Writing. Hopefully it will happen, but there are no developments that are new."

Without mentioning specific projects like this past year's "Man of Steel" and the 2015 sequel featuring both Batman and Superman, del Toro said that the potential "Justice League Dark" movie would need to "fit" within what's being mapped out for both TV and movies -- an interesting comment as there has not been any confirmation from Warner Bros. or DC that CW series "Arrow," or any of the several DC-based shows currently in development, are intended to connect to feature films like "Man of Steel."

"Warner Bros. are making plans for the entire DC Universe, all the superheroes, all the mythologies, and part of that is Justice League Dark," del Toro said. "They're planning on TV, movies, all the media, so we have to fit within that plan."

"[John Constantine] is basically trying to recruit these guys," del Toro said. "On Etrigan, I'm using Jason Blood in the time of Merlin. We find out at the top that they each have a mystery to solve. Swamp Thing is at peace with who he is, but Deadman needs to figure out who shot him. It's all woven in. Growing up, my two favorite characters were Etrigan and Swamp Thing, so I'm in heaven."